This is the guy who should lose his license after spending time in prison. Other people are risking their life and the cops going underwater to save his fucking truck.
Every day I thank (insert deity of your choice) that there’s someone out there marginally dumber than I am.
Should’ve let him win the Darwin Award.
I’m hoping he’ll get the ginormous bill for that truck rescue.
The guy is definitely an idiot, but prison time? 
Isn’t the loss of his truck punishment enough? Even after being removed from the water, the truck is almost certainly not going to be salvageable. The guy is also likely facing fines and civil penalties, and additional punishment if he’s charged with DUI.
Also, the police weren’t trying to save or recover his truck (for the sake of the truck itself). They were likely simply trying to remove it from from the lake to prevent gasoline, oil, etc. from polluting the lake.
Right. That’s Michigan, but I know Maine has the same laws for the same reasons, to prevent pollution of the lakes.
It’s a riot to fly over Sebago Lake and see the ice-fishing derbies going on late in the season, when the ice cover has partly lifted. If you really want to catch fish, why not just go over to the open-water side of the lake?
I think it’s cool that my local news station that I watch every day got a link on this site.
Yes his truck is probably a total loss and we don’t want its fluids in one of our lakes. The divers are properly equipped and trained so I think it’s a stretch to say they’re risking their lives. It is a public expense and the truck owner should pay for the cost if he’s able.
I fully realize why they went through the hassle of getting the truck out now instead of waiting two months until the ice is gone.
An innovative solution to a pesky ice fishing problem - how to get a hole big enough for the boat…
The article says he dove back to his truck to get something, probably like, “Hey, that 12-pack of Old Style still has nine cans left, I’m not wasting it…”
It’s not parked on the continental shelf or something. The gas, oil and transmission fluid systems should be well-enough sealed to keep stuff from leaking out for a few months at least.
Should be, but may not be. Also, all the road dirt and salt and chassis lube on the underside starts to enter the water as soon as the truck is submerged.
Right, but it’s a bit late to do anything about that.
I don’t believe they are. I think most systems are vented to outside air, even if through a breather/separator.
When I worked in Tx, we sold axle breather extension kits to boat guys, so water wouldn’t get in the trucks rear axle at the boat launch.
No, that recovery bill, and the total loss of the truck, will go to his insurance company. It will far exceed what he has paid in insurance premiums, so it will be spread out over all the other people who have car insurance and aren’t stupid enough to drive their vehicles on thin ice, increasing insurance premiums for the rest of us.
Maybe not. My auto insurance at least has clauses that void the insurance if I do something really stupid with the vehicle that is outside what would be called “normal operation.” I can’t enter it in a demolition derby, for example, and then try to claim the damage. Driving the truck onto a frozen lake could be considered “outside normal” by the courts.
According to one car insurance site, you’d be covered if you have comprehensive and weren’t intentionally meaning to destroy the vehicle, or race it. “Outside normal” doesn’t cover driving on a frozen lake, at least in the upper midwest.
That might depend on the location. In the frozen midwest, driving out onto a frozen lake is very normal. Probably just as normal as purposely backing the entire back part of your vehicle into the water to launch a boat.
Not that it makes a difference, but the DNR is typically keeping a very close eye on everything that goes on out there. It’s not that these people are sneaking around or living in an area where the authority turns a blind eye to it.
It might be “normal”, but it shouldn’t be legal. Every year some fucking asshole falls through or drives out too far. Emergency services shouldn’t be used for these people.